Update: I wonder if Teflon Man's experience can be explained by the theory expounded by Hot Abercrombie Chick and/or some of the commenters, which concludes:

Because there is no reason to think it impossible or unlikely for (some) animals to be able to detect conditions that usually precede natural disasters, I think the common anecdotal evidence for animals having some sort of (non-mythical) "sixth sense" is enough to make it reasonable to believe they might. Denying the possibility might even be unreasonable. Still, we should remember that attributing such abilities to animals doesn't require that we think anything "mythical" or "supernatural" is going on - there are convincing explanations from within a completely mundane worldview.

Perhaps he was sensing the techtonic movements and his brain was interpreting them through his ordinary pathways. ?